Skate.



J. LENHARDT.

Patented Dec. 12, 11916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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J. LENHARDT.

SKATE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8. 1915.

Patented No.12, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 arr p,

JOSEF LENI-IARDT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SKATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 191 5..

Application filed December 8, 1915. Serial No. 65,663.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Josnr LENI-IARDT, a subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at 1703 Mohawk street, in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in skates and more particularly to skates having an automatically weight driven speed increasing mechanism.

The principal objects of my invention are to produce a comparatively simple, cheap, and durable skate of the type mentioned and so to construct and arrange the parts thereof that the traveling speed will be automatically increased through vertical movement of one part of the skate relatively to the remainder.

The last-named object is accomplished by making the skate in two parts or members and operating a gear mechanism by the movement of the two members relatively to each other, said gear mechanism, in turn, being adapted to rotate drive-rollers in the lower part or member of the skate.

These and other objects will be hereinafter described in the following description and claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which an embodiment of my improvement is shown.

In the drawings Figure 1, is a side elevation of my improved skate, some of the hidden parts being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2, is a vertical longitudinal section on line 22 Fig. 3, the foot plate being shown in a depressed position in dotted lines. Fig. 3, is a bottom plan view of the improved skate. Fig. l, is an end elevatiotn of the skate. Fig. 5, is an enlarged fragmentary view to illustrate the oscillatory segmental gear arm and the one way clutch or coaster drive of the gear mechanism.

In referring to the embodiment of my invention shown in the accompanying drawings in detail, like numerals designate like or corresponding parts.

The skate frame is composed of two members, a lower member or frame proper and an upper member or foot plate. The lower member is in the form of three sided frame having atop plate 1, and two vertical side plates 2, which depend from the opposite side edges of the top plate.

The preferred form of the invention depicted in the drawings is a roller skate, the rollers 3 being arranged in the usual front and rear pairs and being mounted upon spindles or axles 4, which axles extend through and are supported by the side plates 2.

My improved automatic gear mechanism is composed of a pinion 5, which is mounted on one of the axles {11, supporting the rollers, preferably the rear axle, a counter shaft 6, journaled in the side plates 2, and having a gear wheel 7 meshing with the pinion 5, and a pinion 8, a driven shaft 9, having a gear wheel 10, meshing with the pinion 8 and a pinion 11, and an arm 12, having a collar 13, at one end loosely mounted on a pivot 1.4, attached to the top plate 1 over the opposite axle and a toothed segment 14H, at the opposite end which meshes with the pinion 11. The pinion 11, is supported on a roller or ball clutch 15, as shown in Fig. 5, so that the pinion 11 drives in one direction only and is free to rotate freely in the opposite direction, thus permitting the arm 12, to return to its upper position upon the completion of its downward stroke and also the rollers to coast freely in a forward direction.

The upper part or member of the skate frame, I term the foot plate 16, and it is provided with clamps 17 or other suitable means for the attachment of the skate to the foot of the skater. The plate conforms generally to the shape of a shoe sole and is provided with four depending side brackets 18 attached to its under surface, and an intermediate bracket 19, to which an end enlargement 20 of the segment 14*, is loosely fastened in any ordinary manner, for instance by a pin, (not shown) or by fitting it in a slot in the bracket 19. The foot plate when the skate is in action has a parallelvertical movement toward and from the lower member and to permit this movement I preferably link the foot plate to the lower member at four separate points. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the links at each point are four in number being arranged in opposed pairs with the upper links '21 and 22 of the pairs pivoted to a single common pivot 23, to one of the side brackets, 18, and the lower links 23 and 24 by a single common pivot 27. The segmental gear which is composed of the arm 12, collar 13 and toothed segment is as previously described is pressed upwardly by a spring 31, one end 32 of which is coiled around the collar and then bent outwardly at its extremity 33 and fitted in an opening in one of the side frame members 2, and the opposite end 34 of which is bent laterally inwardly beneath the arm 12. The tendency of this spring is to press the segmental gear upward and thus maintain it against the foot plate and also to support the foot plate normally in its elevated position.

To maintain and support the links against lateral movement, the separate and independent pivots 25 and 26 are provided with end extensions which are slidably fitted in curved slots 29 and 30 in the side plate 2, as shown in Fig. l.

If desired the foot plate may be made extensible as shown so that the skate may be adjusted to fit different lengths of foot wear.

A skater. equipped with my improved skate, moves his lower limbs when skating in the usual way employed with the ordinary type of skate, lifting his foot and the skate thereon after each stroke and moving them to a forward position in readiness to make another stroke. The lifting of the skate from the ground causes the lower member thereof to drop away from the upper member or foot plate and separating the two members so that they assume about the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4;, and in full lines in Fig. 2. Upon again starting a stroke the lower member is brought into contact with the ground, and the weight of the foot and also the body of the skater which is inclined toward the side on which the stroke is begun force the foot plate toward the lower member, causing the segmental arm to oscillate downward and through the intermeshing gears imparting forward rotation to the driven axle and rollers. This operation it will be seen accelerates the speed thereby enabling the skater to travel at a faster pace with the improved type of skate.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of a wide range of variation, alteration, modification and change without departing from the spirit of=.my invention. I therefore do not wish to be limited to the construction herein shown and described, but desire to avail myself of all such variations,

alterations, modifications and changes as fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims or may be construed to be within the scope thereof by involving the doctrine of equivalents.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the class described, a frame having two separated side plates in parallel separated arrangement, rollers rotatably supported from said side plates, speed increasing gearing supported between the side plates and connected to the rollers, a foot plate arranged over the side plates of the frame, a plurality of connecting links, pivots connecting said links in pairs, said pivots being slidably mounted in the side plates, and pivots fixed in position connecting the upper and lower extremities of the pairs of links respectively to the foot plate and the side plates.

2. In a device of the class described, a frame having two vertical side plates in parallel separated arrangement, said plates being of thin metal long and fairly wide and extending longitudinally and side by side, rollers mounted on the exterior of and rotatably supported from said side plates, speed increasing gearing supported between the side platesand connected to the rollers, a foot plate movably mounted over the frame and operatively connected to the speed increasing gearing, said foot plate having movement in a vertical direction relatively to the frame, and a plurality of links arranged in pivotally joined pairs connecting the foot plate to the side plates.

3. In a device of the class described, a frame having two vertical side plates in parallel separated arrangement, said plates being of thin metal long and fairly wide and extending longitudinally and side by side, rollers mounted on the exterior of and rotatably supported from said side plates, speed increasing gearing supported between the side plates and connected to the rollers, a foot plate movably mounted over the frame and operatively connected to the speed increasing gearing, said foot plate having movement in a vertical direction relatively to the frame, and links arranged in pivotally connected pairs pivotally connecting the foot plate to the side plates, said side plates being provided with curved slots into each of which the connecting pivot of a pair of links slidably fits.

4. In a device of the class described, a frame having two separated side plates in parallel separated arrangement, rollers rotatably supported from said side plates, speed increasing gearing supported between the side plates and connected to the rollers, a foot plate arranged over the side plates of the frame, a plurality of connecting links, pivots connecting said links in pairs; the side plates being provided with curved slots in which pivots are slidably mounted, and pivots fixed in position connecting the upper and lower extremities of the pairs of links respectively to the foot plate and the side plates.

5. In a device of the class described, a frame having two vertical side plates in parallel separated arrangement, a foot plate movably mounted over the frame, a series of links connecting the foot plate to the frame, there being curved slots formed in the side plates of the frame, pivot pins extending from the links and slidably projecting into the curved slots, rollers rota- JOSEF LENHARDT.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patente, Washington, D. 0. 

